This invention relates generally to dental x-rays and more particularly to an improved dental x-ray shape, the protective jacket containing the unexposed dental x-ray and a mount for such dental x-rays which provides for a proper viewable positioning of the exposed dental x-rays within the mount corresponding to the regions of a patient's teeth. The term "x-ray" is used herein to refer to a "radiograph".
Reference is made to my co-pending application Ser. No. 07/518,135 filed May 3, 1990 directed to a dental x-ray patient identification marking device with which the dental x-ray shape described and claimed in the present application is particularly useful.
Presently, dental x-rays are provided which are formed of relatively small x-ray material typically having rectangular dimensions of 1.2 inches wide.times.1.6 inches long. These conventional dental x-rays are uniformly radiused at each corner. This relatively small size is necessary to fit the unexposed dental x-ray, contained within a protective jacket, into the mouth of a patient against the inside surface of the tooth and gums to be x-rayed.
Also typical is to orient each dental x-ray generally horizontally with respect to back or molars and generally upright or vertical with respect to x-raying frontal teeth.
So as to provide some form of visible or viewable indicia for the practitioner to orient each dental x-ray within the patient's mouth, a small depression or dimple is formed along one margin near to one corner of the dental x-ray. This is provided so that the practitioner may have some indication of the orientation of the unexposed x-ray material after it is removed from the patient's mouth and exposed.
However, in many cases, the viewable depression is inadequate to avoid confusing the exposed x-rays both top to bottom and front to back in positioning the x-rays for viewing.
A separate problem has been addressed by the invention contained in my referenced co-pending application, i.e. the application of patient identification information onto each dental x-ray at one end thereof. The present invention is particularly useful in conjunction with a modified form of the mount contained in this co-pending application and as described herein.
The present invention provides an improved shape for a dental x-ray which facilitates certainty in orienting each x-ray from the time it is put within the patient's mouth in a correspondingly marked jacket to the time that each x-ray is placed into a transparent mount having specially shaped pouches or pockets corresponding to the shape and orientation of each x-ray of the patient's mouth.